Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-04-28


talkin', I'll tell We wat some wild
waves done to me wupst Them waves
didn't say nothin', but they jist got up
an done. This happened wen were
boy. consid' able many year ago.
'Twere on the ninth day of April. 1922.
in the AFTERNOON. / were jist comm
seven year old. Their had ben big
rain fer two or three DAYS, and l know'd
th't Sloplick creek must be jist right
fer sucker fishin', an SO l sneaked my
pap's chestnut pole an hosshair line
outen the barn and cut crosslots fer
the big bend O the creek, witch were
| list over a raise o ground from our
cabin in the clearin'. mebby four or five
rod away, but out o sight, cause
'twere in the gulley, twenty-five foot
| lower'n the clearin'. An speakin' o
sucker fishin', sonny, yen see fore
git through with this leetle anecdote
th't tn was suckers in the creeks in
| them days. Tn haint none in 'em
| now, but thur a many O. one outen the
| creeks. an big un's, too. Wall. wen
! I come in sight o whar oil SlopGck
orter been jist more thin bilin', OWN
| to the hard rains. I almos' tumbled
| back in a faintin' fit. TIL want no
| Sloplick thar The bed o. the creek
were as dryer'n a salt, herring! Ez
fur ez 1 could see down the creek, a
| picked chicken couldn't a ben no
barer thin them rocks on the bottom
was. The creek had fall o. more n
twenty foot to the miled, an even in
low water went down by thar, on its
way to the river three miled below, like
peeled hemlock log down roll way,
an thar she were, arter all dem rains,
dry and empty from bank to bank.
| Peleg, were skeert, an TUX to trem-
blin' wuss thin u hungry dog at day
light on a frosty mornin'. 1 thOrt the
world were comm to an end right thar
and then. Poorly soon l got stiddy
enough to look up the creek, an then
were skeert wuss'n ever, fer bout a
| quarter of n miled away, in that direc-
4 ton, thar were the creek agoin' up
stream ez fast ez it could tear! Coin
right up that big grade O. twenty foot
to the miled, Peleg, like a train o
keers Wen 1 see that L jist Topped
right down and waited fer the 'arth-
quakes and Gabriel to come follerin'
along, acrackin' an atootin'. 1 laid
thar awhile, but they didn't neither on
'em come, an the creek KEEP aclimbin'
up to ards its headwaters zif it d ben sent
fer to come back hum an hadn't no
time to spare gettin' thar. 1t were
movin' back ards in flood more'n
thirty foot high, ez nigh ez 1 could
jedge from SEEM the gable eend of it.,
and pooty soon 1 noticed th't tn were
heap o commotion on the edge of it.
WALL says L to myself, gittin' up
onter my feet, TIL can't be nothin' to
hurt a Teller in a flood th't's doin' its
best to run away from him like that,
says 1, AN so l guess I'll quit waitin'
for Gabriel an the earthquakes says
/, AN III jist start arter that creek an
see w ats ailin' on it to make it go
an cut up that way says 1.
$50 away L dug ez tight ez my legs'd
carry me, but the creek had got such a
start o. me that it tuck me good half
hour fore I ketched up with it. An
ez soon ez I did ketch up with it, my
son, l see to wunst wat were ailin' on
it. Ye must know, to git the hang O.
this, Peleg. th't suckers starts fer the
creeks on the fust high water tn comes
in the spring. an th't they gether to-
gether by the boat load at the mouths
of creeks waitin' fer the flood th't tells
'em things is ready fer 'em up the
creek, an then up they go. That had
ben an onusul good season for suckers
to winter over in, an they had waxed
an crowd fat, an gethered in such
I N h;cr nt.OxuHS fl1ft WA +bo1
started in at the mouth o Sloplick
creek that ninth day o April. they jest
damned the hull durn course O. the
stres M, an fer time it had been nip
an tuck ez to witch ID hef to stop, the
creek or the suckers. But in them days
suckers had vim an push in 'em.
These fellers at the mouth o Sloplick
had started to git up that creek. an
'twan't their fault, b. gosh, if it
couldn't furnish water enough, with
all the rain 1t ID had fer week past,
fer 'em to wiggle up on; so they jis put
their shoulders to the wheel, an ut it
they went, an showed the rushin' fl God
of OF Sloplick right back with 'em,
pilin' it up in a wall thirty foot high,
an keepin' her Il movin' back so fast,
steep ez the grade were, th't she
couldn't git no footholt, an had to 20.
So, of course, ev'ry thing were left
high an dry ahind that pushin' army
O. suckers. an natur' in them parts
were lOokin' queer.
'.Peleg, Wen l ketched up to that
retrcatin' creek. nothin' could be seen
on the face o. that high wall O. water
but shouts, an tails, an fins, an backs,
an bellies O. suckers. They was piled
on one another from the bed o. the
creek to the top o the flood, pushin'
an shown an crowdin' to keep the